The Ginger Fox, Kemp Town

8082010

I came across this pub by chance whilst heading up towards Queens Park to find a suitable Sunday boozer. It had obviously been recently taken over and had that air of a place that was desperately keen to impress with its food. It seemed foolish to ignore this previously never visited hostelry so I headed on in to find it was done up rather smartly, obviously trying to attract a more discerning clientèle than the nearby Golden Cannon.

I’m afraid to say the first thing that struck me was the price of the food, which was NOT cheap, but I am not one to let price put me off when it comes to feasting and for the good of this very blog I took the hit.

It is only a small pub but they’re certainly trying to give it a proper restaurant feel and I was given a thick white napkin, posh cutlery and a basket of bread with dipping oil whilst awaiting my meal. There were only two meat choices on the menu: beef and chicken, which on the one hand seems stingy but on the other quite sensible. The place is only small after all so why cook more than you can sell? It was also somewhat reassuring to think that I was less likely to regret whichever choice I made being as they were surely taking both options very seriously.

I plumped for beef and when it arrived I was gobsmacked by the incredible thickness of this juicy doorstep sized slab of meat I was presented with. It was immense, and very nice looking too.

Now by this point I had my expectations rather high, what with the price of the food, the decor of the place and the general upmarket vibe I was getting and I am pleased to say I was not disappointed. The meat was tender and succulent and left me feeling genuinely remorseful when I’d finished it BUT this disappointment was soon brushed aside by the incredible potatoes.

Regular readers will have gathered by now that I am a serious roast potato fan and I make no bones about it, roasties are GREAT, so to find a pub serving potatoes JUST the way I like them was a very rare treat indeed. They were crispy and fluffy and crunchy and soft all at the same time and I could not get enough of them. These were AWESOME potatoes let me tell you, and by this point things were looking very good indeed for the Ginger Fox.

Moving on to the vegetables, there wasn’t much of a great selection but what they did have was very delicious. The big chunky carrots were soft on the outside whilst crunchy in the middle and these were complimented by some very fresh looking petit pois. Perhaps they could have added one or two extra items for variety but I won’t complain about quality over quantity.

In all this was a very decent roast indeed but then for the price so it should have been. It could possibly have done with a little more on the plate but I get the feeling that they were pushing the roasts as part of a three course meal, in which case it is fair to assume the portion would have been about right after a starter had been consumed.

So well done to the Ginger Fox which certainly receives my seal of approval. It’s definitely the higher end of the market, with the price to match, but if you’re not on a budget why not spoil yourself?